Reset fixes my Apple Watch after months of problems

Photo by Michał Kubalczyk on Unsplash

I had lots of problems with my Apple Watch, and it finally got to the point where I couldn’t even install or remove apps.

I ultimately reset my Apple Watch, after I tried pretty much everything else. The reset fixed it, but I’m glad that I escalated step-by-step:

1. I restarted the watch & my paired iPhone – that didn’t fix anything.
2. Unpaired and re-paired the Apple Watch (the re-pair did not repair it, and all third party apps were effectively removed.).
3. Finally, a reset: in the iPhone Watch app, General > Reset -- scroll all the way down to the bottom of the General screen for your watch to find the Reset option.

The Reset backs up your Apple Watch to the paired iPhone, but I didn't restore from that.

After my unsuccessful un-re-pair sequence, I lost all of the apps that Apple doesn't install by default. At first I thought it was because I didn’t enter my iCloud password correctly, but then I realized it was the same problem: I still couldn’t install third party apps.

But, my previous unpairing also created a backup, so I restored from that earlier backup, when all my apps were still installed – just not working well.

99 Problems – but backups ain’t one

I had a lot of problems with the apps on my Watch:

• apps didn't update or sync with the watch (only some, including Apple and third party apps – no rhyme or reason to it).
• I couldn't install or uninstall anything from my iPhone's Watch app.
• plus all kinds of other tiny frustrations.

The reset fixed it all. I wouldn't have done it any other way, though: I escalated from the least inconvenient (restarting both devices) through the benign unpairing -- bonus backup included! -- to the full reset.

A Reset makes everything better

Basically, when you reset or unpair an Apple Watch (and this is true for resetting and iOS device from a backup, too), the reset process:

1. Makes a backup.
2. Erases the storage.
3. Installs the OS (iOS or watchOS) from the latest download.
4. Installs all the default Apple apps.
5. Restores your settings and data.
6. Checks your iTunes / iCloud account and installs the latest version of all your third party apps.

When I look at that list, I think: a reset is a pretty good thing to do! Plus, a lot more good things happen as a result of a reset, not least of which:

• You now have a full backup of your device.
• The OS and the apps are all the latest version, freshly downloaded.
• Your settings and data are fully restored.
• After all of this, your device will most likely have a considerable amount of free space available that wasn't available before, probably because the reset eliminates every cache or temporary file, as well as old versions of apps, plus recently downloaded app data.

So: start fresh! It looks like a good idea to reset your Apple device every few months, to get the best performance out of them, as well as creating and testing a full backup.

Pretty sweet – I don't know why I didn't do it earlier.

Assuming you've got enough storage space on your phone, it's easy to back up your watch to the iPhone. Assuming you've got enough space on iCloud or your computer -- ideally, your Mac -- it's easy to back up your iOS device.

So just do it!

Beware the unsupported app

There's only one downside I've run into, specifically on my iOS devices (but this could also be a problem on the Apple Watch): sometimes you have an older app that is no longer being updated by the developer, and may in fact have been removed from the App Store.

If this is the case, remember that backing up your iOS device doesn't back up your old, unsupported apps.

That's because the backups don't include the apps installed on your iOS device (or Apple Watch, for that matter). Instead, the backups contain your data and settings, plus a list of all the apps you have installed – not copies of the apps themselves.

How Apple backs up your device

Backing up only your data and settings, with just a list of your apps, is an efficient way to create a backup, since you’re only saving the stuff that’s unique to your device. The OS and apps are (presumably) available for download from the App Store.

This is why you need a good Internet connection, and a working iCloud / App Store account (meaning: your iCloud username and passord when you restore your device.

After it installs the device OS from a fresh copy, plus all the default apps, the restoration software reads the list of third party apps, and fetches them from the App Store, grabbing only the latest version.

If an app you purchased before is no longer available, or doesn't work with the latest version of the OS, too bad. You're out of luck.

This is the only downside I can think of from resetting your iOS device or Apple Watch -- you lose unsupported apps.

Unsupported = not secure

And honestly, that's not the worst thing in the world. Because unsupported apps are in fact huge security risks.

That doesn't mean it's easy to stop using an app you've used for a long time, but resetting your Apple Watch or iOS device also resets it to a more secure state -- as secure as possible at the moment you reset it.

Reset regularly

Since all of the apps I use on my Apple Watch seem to be updated regularly, I'm going to reset my Watch on the regular, too. Maybe every 2 - 3 months.

Right, I'm going to enjoy my like-new Apple Watch and all the apps that have miraculously started working after many months of bizarre behavior. Plus, I can install and remove apps again, and I've got a more secure, backed-up watch.